//------------------------------// // After Nightmare Night // Story: GTVS: The Great Teacher Vinyl Scratch // by Mariacheat-Brony //------------------------------//         Vinyl groaned in discomfort in her sleep before she slowly opened her eyes. It took her a bit of time to get used to the half-light brought by the moon still hidden behind the heavy, red curtains of her bedroom. Aspetta un attimo… [Wait a second….] Since when do I have red curtains at my window? Vinyl thought sleepily. Heck, since when do I even have curtains at all? She tried to move her arms to rub her eyes awake, but the left one seemed blocked. When she started to think about it, the entire left side of her body felt sort of restricted. She looked down and immediately saw why it felt like that. A peacefully sleeping Octavia was leaning against her side, her nose slightly buried into the fake, yet quite real-looking, soft, grey fur of Vinyl’s werewolf costume. The young teacher blinked in shock at the sight of her student in bed with her, until the memories of last night flashed back in her head. Chè notte…[What a night...] Vinyl thought, blushing madly at the memories of the many kisses exchanged with her student.         Before Vinyl could think more about it, Octavia snuggled deeply into her left breast, humming softly in satisfaction, but inadvertently making the DJ-turned-teacher wince in pain. OW!OW!OWOWOWOW! Vinyl cried internally before pulling herself quickly away from the young cellist. “WAHAA!” Octavia shouted in surprise after the sudden movement from her teacher woke her up and almost made her fall off her bed.         When she straightened her posture on the bed, Octavia tilted her head in confusion at the sight of her teacher delicately massaging her large, left breast with teary eyes. It took a certain amount of willpower to not get entranced by that sight, but Octavia managed just fine. She only blushed a little. “What happened?” the young cellist asked in a mix of curiosity and worry. “No..Nothing important,” Vinyl assured, sighing partly in pain, though mostly in relief. “You just hit the wrong spot.” “The wrong spot…?” Octavia blinked before realizing what she did. “Oh, gosh! I’m so sorry! I forgot that you had a piercing there!” she added with concern, her hands covering her gaping mouth. “It’s okay. You were asleep, it’s not like….” Vinyl stared at the cellist in a vampire dress with narrowed eyes. “How come you know that I have a piercing on my left nipple?” she asked slowly. “Huh…” Octavia blushed in embarrassment. “Well?” Vinyl asked with authority. “I..I.. I kinda saw it that time when we shared the shower stall,” Octavia confessed, poking her fingers together. “I didn’t mean to peep... I just saw the reflection in the mirror after you walked out the shower… I’m sorry!” she added sheepishly. “No, it was my fault,” Vinyl admitted as she remembered that fateful shower. “I should have hid myself with a towel.” “You probably should have… Not that I minded much,” Octavia giggled softly, tracing circles on her blanket with her forefinger.         The young teacher’s reply was to raise an eyebrow at her giggling student. Octavia’s cheeks were rosy from her little laughing fit, and her eyes showed that she really didn’t have many regrets about that glance she had of Vinyl’s chest jewelry.         Octavia met her teacher’s gaze, and time seemed to stop. Vinyl could see it in the purple orbs. Her student was flashing back all what happened since Vinyl passed her bedroom threshold a few hours ago.         Her breath quickened as her blush took a much deeper shade of red. Her purple irises were shining with desire, and need. She slowly began to lean forward. She half closed her eyes while pushing her lips forward, meeting no resistance from the other woman in the room.         That was until she found her lips being stopped by two raised fingers a few inches away from her targets. Octavia blinked in confusion before asking mutely why Vinyl had stopped her. “There’s a time for lip play, and a time for serious conversation,” Vinyl replied softly. “And I think we’ve done plenty of lip play already. “HUng-Hung!” Octavia shook her head while Vinyl’s fingers kept her mouth closed. “AMmm waanfffffmmm Kifff hu!” “I know you want to… I kinda want it too, but we really need to talk.” Vinyl noticed the wide eyes of her student. “Yes, along with French and Italian, I can also speak the Muffled,” she added playfully. “Now, move along. I need to get changed.”         Octavia nodded slowly and watched her teacher stand up from her bed before making her way to her door. She couldn’t help to cock an eyebrow at the sight of Vinyl listening through her door and checking if no one could see her leaving. “You know that Father left for his golf tournament yesterday afternoon,” Octavia reminded. “There’s no one else but us in the house.” “Better be safe than sorry,” Vinyl commented slowly. “I’m gonna need some coffee… See you in the kitchen in a few,” she said with a short wave and a yawn before leaving the room.         Octavia remained on her bed in silence for few seconds before she decided to take her costume off in favor of a more conventional sleepwear. A bit after she buttoned up her pajama’s shirt up, Octavia’s gaze fell on one recent picture of her and her father in front of Fillydelphia Concert hall.         At that moment, she started to think a bit more of the consequences of her late actions. The first person she thought of was her father. He would certainly not be pleased by that development in Octavia and Vinyl’s relationship. Despite being a laid-back father in general, and also a rather absent parent due to his work for most part, Vito was rather touchy on certain subjects concerning his only child.         Octavia remembered clearly the first time she had brought a boy, Frederic to be precise, home for a school project a few years ago. It was one of the rare Wednesday afternoons she had spent with her father still in the house. Her pianist friend told her afterwards that he’d prefer that they work at his place should they be paired up again. He didn’t like the feeling of being watched at Octavia’s place, though he couldn’t exactly prove it.         For all Octavia knew, her father could still be mad at her for not being attracted to boys. True, Vito had never shown any signs of bigotry against same sex couples, but there are sometimes differences when it concerns strangers, and when it concerns family.         Beside, even if he didn’t have a problem with her being attracted to women, Octavia knew he would definitely have a problem with Vinyl kissing his one and only daughter. She could already imagine the scene following her father discovering the truth. “HOW DARE YOU?! I PULLED YOU OUT OF THE DITCH, AND THAT’S HOW YOU REPAY ME?! GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!!!!” “Yeah, something like that…” Octavia sighed with sadness.         Then, she started to think about what the others would say. Vice-Principal Sedgwick would probably implode if such scandal was ever known. Headmistress Heliopolis would be more diplomatic than her underling, but she would not hesitate in taking the matter as far as necessary, even to courts. Or would she even dare go to court for that matter? Octavia didn’t know, and didn’t really want to.         And then, there were her classmates. Would they even remain friends with her after something like that? Maybe Beatrice could. She had been Octavia’s friend since they were assigned on a school project together, years ago. Her very first, and probably best friend ever.         As for the others, she doubted that their reactions would be in her favor. Laura might not take the news nicely at all, but only because she was crushing on Vinyl like Octavia. Though the cellist wasn’t sure that the lyrist would have ever crossed the line like she did earlier.         It was then that Octavia realized all this situation was her fault. She had made the first move. She knew that it wasn’t normal business, but she had done it anyway. Octavia figured out her feelings a few weeks ago and had decided to keep her distance from the source of her affection. Only to kiss her behind the curtains of the stage her friends had just left without any care for the rest.         After that she had run away, and despite hoping the opposite, she knew that Vinyl would have to come after her. Though she would have never dreamed that the teacher would reciprocate the kiss, especially not that many times. Okay, maybe it wasn’t completely Octavia’s fault. Sure she had made the first move, the first mistake, but Vinyl was supposed to be the responsible one. She shouldn’t have responded to Octavia’s first kiss in kind. She was to blame for the conflicted state of mind the young cellist was in. “I’m such a hypocrite!” Octavia spat in disgust at her own thoughts. “She’s not the only one at fault here. We both did something wrong and we’ll go through it the same way we got into this!” she said with determination.         She put her night robe on and walked downstairs to the kitchen to meet with her teacher. From the kitchen entrance, the young cellist saw her teacher wearing sweat pants and a loose, black T-shirt with Party Rock written in white on it, starting her imported coffee machine her friend’s fiancée had brought home the week before. The concerned and tired expression on the blue-haired beauty of a woman led the young girl into thinking that Vinyl had been doing the same reflection as her. “Hey,” Octavia called softly. “Have a seat, tesoro,” Vinyl demanded softly as she put her freshly ground coffee in the machine. “Hum-hum.” Octavia nodded as she sat on the bar seat next to Vinyl. “Are you ok?” “Fine, I guess,” the teacher muttered with a shrug as she started her machine. “Done some thinking….. about us.” “And?” Octavia asked hesitantly. “No matter how many times I turned this around in my head. I can’t find a single way out of this rather embarrassing emotional situation.” Vinyl replied slowly. “Hum, we could always forget it ever happened,” the cellist suggested in a whisper. “If we continue and we’re found out, the consequences could be disastrous.” “You’re right.” “I mean, you will get fired, and Sedgwick will have you skinned alive.” Octavia rubbed her arms nervously. “My father could speak ill about you, and your career will never get back to its former glory.” “True,” Vinyl said with a nod. “As for you, it could hinder your entire future. I’m a lost cause to begin with. If your father hadn’t given me this job, I’d have been in the street by now. I can’t do anything other than music. You, on the other hand, are a diamond nearly polished to perfection. You can do about everything you want, I’m sure you’ll succeed. Being with me will damage your reputation more than ever.” “It seems you’re right about that reputation part,” Octavia admitted with a pained sigh. “It doesn’t happen often,” Vinyl commented in a half-hearted chuckle. “Both our lives would be miserable if what happened tonight is ever found out.” “Without counting the moral issues of a teacher/student relationship,” the cellist added. “It’s clear that it’s not in our favor.” Vinyl passed her hand through her wild electric hair. “This is so messed up!” “I’m sorry,” Octavia whispered with sincerity. “Non devi scusare ti, Tesoro!” [You don’t have to apologize, Sweetie!] “It’s all my fault.” “I kissed you first!” “And I kissed you back instead of talking calmly about it with you!” “But it wasn’t your fault I truly fell in love with you!” Octavia argued.         That argument seemed to have stopped the DJ in her tracks. She blinked a couple of times before looking straight into her student’s eyes. “True Love are pretty big words, Ottavia,” Vinyl stated a low tone. “Are you sure that’s what you feel toward me?” “It feels like True Love to me,” Octavia replied with determination. “First Love often feels like that, Sweetie,” Vinyl retorted with a profound sadness. “And, it’s often just that. A simple feeling, a vague sensation… Nothing consistent at all!” “Do you really think that what I feel for you is just a vague sensation?” Octavia slowly asked. “I know that you’re young, and that I’m your first crush.” Vinyl shrugged. “I’ve been in that place before you, Tesoro, except that I didn’t have all the possible consequences we have now.” “So, we should just simply forget about it?” Octavia asked angrily. “Brush it under the rug, and letting it fall out of our memories?!” “It would be the best idea,” Vinyl whispered. “The most logical one.” “Fine, then!” Octavia snapped with teary eyes.         She stood up abruptly and was about to leave the kitchen when she felt her arm being tucked back. “We’re not done talking, ragazza!” [..., girl!] Vinyl reminded as she pulled Octavia so she could face her. “Are you sure?!” Octavia nearly shouted in a shaken, emotive voice. “Because you clearly made your decision!” “No, I didn’t!” “Yes, you did! You gave me all that ‘first crush and most logical thing to do’ speech!” Octavia argued, crying in a mix of anger and sadness, her entire body shivering.         Vinyl’s answer was to pull her crying student in a tight, comforting embrace. Feeling her teacher’s arms around her made Octavia stop shivering. She rested her head on one of the blue-haired woman’s large marshmallows -That’s the first thing she thought of when she did and started to hug back. “I just want you to consider every single thing, Ottavia,” Vinyl whispered while soothingly rubbing the girl’s back. “Out of the two of us, you’ve got a lot more to lose… It could only be worse if you were wrong about how you feel about me.” Octavia sniffed. “...What about the logical thing to do?” “I’ve never had the best record of making logical choices,” Vinyl chuckled before gently pecking the black-haired’s forehead. “I wouldn’t be in Canterlot playing the wannabe music teacher if it wasn’t the case.” “Sei una grande professoressa, Vincenza. Mai pensare altrimenti!” [You’re a great teacher, Vincenza. Never think otherwise!] Octavia whispered softly. “Grazie, Tesoro!” [Thank you, Honey.] “Aren’t you a little biased though?” she asked playfully.         Octavia looked up, and pressed her lips softly against Vinyl’s in response. This time, the teacher didn’t stop her. Compared to the passionate storm they were caught in earlier, this kiss was like a faint summer breeze, meant to relax as much as to silently agree on what to do about their situation. Octavia loved it as much as the more moving ones. It didn’t have to be the magical fireworks all the time. And she could feel that Vinyl was thinking the same thing. “I guess I am… Solo un pochettino!” [.... Just a little bit!] Octavia replied with a soft smile, bringing her thumb really close to her forefinger. “You’re really ready to do this?” Octavia nodded. “Even if it means hiding this from everyone?” Octavia nodded again. “We’ll have to set a few rules.” “You’re really bringing out your rules persona now?” Octavia giggled playfully while Vinyl rolled her eyes. “Hummm… What about last night?” Vinyl tilted her head in confusion. “The others must have realized I was gone, and that so were you… What are we going to say to them?” “We’ll think of something!” Vinyl waved off as she picked up her steamy cup. “If I estimated it correctly, they probably haven’t noticed our departure yet.” she commented, scenting the aroma of her cup. “How exactly could they have not noticed our absence?” “I unleashed the party animal!” Vinyl explained with a shrug. “They’re probably still going wild.” “It’s a school festival and it’s four AM!” “That never stopped Patty before.” ~~~~~ At the exact same moment, in the school gymnasium “I’M WALKING ON SUNSHINE!!!!” Celeste sang wildly in the Karaoke machine Patty had installed a few hours ago. “WOOOOOAH!” Theresa, Dimitri, Selene and Patty, arm in arm, sang the chorus a bit behind the headmistress while the still large crowd of students was clapping, cheering and whistling in approval. “I’M WALKING ON SUNSHINE!!!!” “WOOOOOAH!” “AND DON’T IT FEEL GOOD!!!”         In the crowd of partying students, the seniors of the music department were scattered all around the gym/ballroom. They had gone for refreshments together, but all got separated quickly after Patty took the reins of the party.         Diana had been spending the night with Nathan close to the Karaoke podium. They even sang a duet together at one moment. The diminutive flautist-turned-firefighter had been extremely embarrassed when the chicken girl picked a passionate love song for them. The guitarist in the undead ninja’s costume hadn’t been in a much better situation, it’s just that his mask was hiding his face pretty well.         Laura, Henry, Harpo anchored themselves to the buffet since the night bakers, Patty had contacted when she noticed the stock of candy was growing thin, had arrived. Their stomachs will probably feel it tomorrow, but it was future Laura, Henry and Harpo’s problem.         Frederic and Beatrice simply hung out together for the rest of the evening, each of them blushing at the faintest contact of their hands or whenever they looked in each other’s eyes. Some other students swore having seen them lock themselves in a closet together for a good ten minutes. Though, no one could prove it really happened, no matter what happened in the closet in question.         Viola and Fiona had decided to conquer the dancefloor on their own after the Vice-Principal’s poor performance. While they had started by mocking each other’s styles, like they always did, the moment switched the music to a fiery salsa song by Patty who wanted to spice things up a bit. The passionate dance the pair of violinists offered to the audience, while trying to show each other who could lead better, was pretty spicy to say the least. They switched hats when they admitted that they were as good as the other, but they never switched partners for the rest of the evening.         All the students and teachers alike were so caught up in the atmosphere of the more than successful Halloween Festival, that no one noticed the cellist’ or the music teacher’s absence. Or if they did, it was only a bit after the musicians ended their performances, and they all supposed they had gone to the restrooms. Then the Patty Party had started, and they soon started to forget about everything else. ~~~~~~ “Are you sure?” Octavia asked with skepticism. “Hundred percent!” Vinyl assured before bringing her coffee to her lips, and chugging it down. “HAAAAAA, that’s good!” “It’s really that good?” Octavia curiously picked the other cup Vinyl had prepared up. “Can I try it?” “Have you ever had coffee before?” Octavia shook her head. “Then, you probably shouldn’t!” she went to take the cup off her student's hand. “Just a sip,” Octavia turned around and brought the cup to her lips. “You down it like it’s water, it can’t be that bad.” she took a swig of the espresso cup. ****** “Awww, I liked that T-shirt,” Vinyl sighed at the sight of her ripped off Party Rock T-shirt on her back. She turned around and looked at her back in the mirror. “Ouch, she sure didn’t miss me!” Vinyl winced when she saw the eight long scratches on her bare shoulder blades. “No more coffee for Ottavia. She’s dangerous on a caffeine rush.” The DJ/teacher remarked upon a bloody cut on her lower lip. “And she bites hard on top of things! Luckily, she calmed down before she crossed that line.” ~~~~~~ “Nice swing, Vito,” A blond man in a white, golfing suit commented in awe while Vito’s ball was landing a few yards away from the green. “Thank you, Alard,” Vito replied with contempt smile. “Now, it’s up to you.” “I doubt I’ll do better than that.” Alard chuckled before placing his ball on the starter. “You’ve been golfing since before I was born after all.” “Are you implying that I’m old, Alard?” Vito cocked an eyebrow at the blond. “More that I’m too young to stand up to you,” Alard chuckled before preparing his swing.         He lifted his club a few times before finally hitting the ball. The white sphere flew high in the air before making its descent a lot shorter than Vito’s. Alard winced when the ball came close to the pond, only to sigh in relief when it landed, and stopped right before the water. “That was a lucky shot, boy,” Vito commented with a short nod. “You shouldn’t have much trouble in hitting the green from there. That’s the good side.” “Yeah, you’re right.” the blond nodded before the pair put their clubs into their caddy and walked along the course. “Anyway, I was wondering if you could do me a little favor.” “It depends on what,” Vito shrugged. “Well, I want to start a contract with a young man from Las Pegasus. Very talented, and really professional,” Alard explained. “He’s very interested in this job, but he has his little sister to look after. He only wants the best for her.” “Admirable behavior.” Vito smiled with a short nod. “What does it got to do with me though?” “Well, he’s searching through the schools of Canterlot, and I was wondering if you could arrange an interview for him with the headmistress of Celestia’s Academy.” Alard looked at the older golfer slowly. “I know she’s not really keen on accepting students during the school year.” “Well, I can arrange an interview easily,” Vito assured. “But, you know that’s no guarantee that Celeste will accept your friend’s sister as a student. They’re pretty selective and only take the best.” “Don’t worry, I know that.” Alard nodded. “I didn’t promise anything, but I think he’d appreciate the gesture. I’d really like him to start working with me. He’ll bring a new wind to my club.” “He’s that good?” Vito asked with curiosity. “What’s his name?” “Neon Lights, though you might know him as DJ MC-W1SH.”